Sen. Bob Casey pushes for renewing the Export-Import Bank, set to expire June 30

– A federal agency that provides financing for U.S. companies to sell their products abroad is again facing the threat of being shut down, an outcome that Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and other supporters say would hurt Pennsylvania businesses.

The Export-Import Bank is set to expire after June 30 unless Congress takes action to reauthorize it. The bank was founded under the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression to boost exports.

It borrows from the U.S. Treasury, then repays that money as loans and fees come in from the businesses that use its financing and insurance options.

Business groups have defended the bank as a necessary tool to aid companies competing overseas. David Taylor, president of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers' Association, said other countries offer a similar and often more aggressive service to their companies, increasing the hurdles facing U.S. businesses.

"It's like the baby aspirin version of government-backed loan guarantees compared to what our competitors do," Taylor said.

But Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and some of his conservative colleagues have depicted the bank as a corporate slush fund that puts too many tax dollars at risk.

"The Export-Import Bank is one of the most egregious forms of corporate welfare in our government, effectively allowing politically favored companies to receive generous subsidies at the expense of other American businesses and workers," Toomey wrote to his fellow senators last month.

Casey offered a starkly different view to reporters Thursday, highlighting data from the bank on its state-by-state effects.

Since 2007, more than 300 Pennsylvania businesses have used its loan guarantees, credit lines and insurance coverage. The financing helped those companies export $7 billion worth of goods during that time.

The companies range in size from General Electric, which makes locomotives in Erie, to EcoTech Marine, a small aquarium manufacturer in Lehigh County. Other local companies that have used the bank's services include Trexlertown-based Air Products and Chemicals and Bethlehem candy manufacturer Just Born.

"I really can't understand the opposition that some on the right have articulated when this has such a huge impact on businesses," Casey said.

Options for renewing the bank before June 30 are dwindling. If it is allowed to expire, some believe the bank could be resurrected next month as part of a larger bill on highway funding — a move that would make it more likely to reach the president's desk.